Ice-making tray



L. R. SMITH ICE-MAKING TRAY Jan. 3, 1950 2 Shets-Sheet 1 Filed Aug. 25, 1945 L. R. SMITH ICE-MAKING TRAY Jan. 3, 1950 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Aug. 25, 1945 Patented Jan. 3, 1950 TCE MAKINIG I-RAY -:...--Lewis 7 R5 sSmith,v Norwalkh. Gonn., :aassign'or;-.;by ...mesne. iassignments, to BhillippB"; L.'- --Goetz, I Darien'I Conn.

1 AppliczttionAugfls't 25, 1345, Serial N.-612,575

3 Claims. (Cl; 62.-.1-08.5)

1,1 2 This invention relates-rte' iceacubenmakingeand backnf. thezztraygan'd'ranother r'portion a! Let-bent dispensing. devices. ars atsubstantially alright: angle ;to itheaback)? .fonm- .In my copending appl-icationmserial e' No. fining the-bottom ofzthe-tray. tTheiibottomzpor-tion 11 605570, now Patent No; 2 443 203: dated r'Junet15, =.l-l ;at'its:forward.enclis curvedmpwardlyaimaifor- ;,-.1-948-,- I-have described adevice-.forrimakin and 5 wardfiange l2zfor a short'fiistance.

,dispensing ice cubes yin which-rancice cube 'tr-ay The 1 individual 2 ice -..cube" compartments aare .-.i--is. disposed.--in a-pivotedetrough. .Whenr-itis-de- :formedrof: a plurality .of:-sheet=;metal strips each c-ssired torrelease andadispenserthe ice cubes :from of which isbent ihto:substantia1 -.U;-?f0rm so iasoto ,ethe tray-warm refrigerantsgases are-z-causedeto :;'comprise..end wal-lsj"*l3 Jand llciandrarfrontewvall pass; throughthezref-rigerant coil whichfis incon I 5. 'Ihese icompartment' formingLU benhstrips tact with the ice cube tray-,tand-simultaneously are .diSPOSi-ld WithFIYGIBJCiOHZtOiifirStStiipiSO21711913 the rtroughsis.. filled with water. :fIhe warm gases the open endi'of the -.U fa'ces athewfiatqiortionil 0 ..-1and-.thewateri causerthei ice cubes ito. loosenirom forming the aback of the tray.

osthe-trayxandethe icercubes-float-toethez surface =.The bottom:edges-.01 the :end wailscfl ands ---of the-:water. When ..t'hextrougheis -filledewith abut; the .portion il'iforming .the:bottom rof he :water.. it becomes. unbalanced and. tilts:- on- .its tray, -which':=bott0m: port-ion: l I- thus forms: the

. pivotal-v axis thus. dumping out the ice? cubes and bottom of eachvice compartment. The ;.upwah'd1y w t eturnedrfiange 42 of therbottom :portion 1 l=.-.over- The present inventionrelates generallyte such laps theflower portion of'the 'front :wall l 5vof ea'ch .an arrangement but ticul r-m nisconcerned zoecompartmentrstrip. .;-It= will; bei.- n0ted'=tthat "with with a .specialiformeof ice tray, the! ice compart- :athis construction, atrayhaving: anyanumberisof rments-ofwhichr are so sha edthat the ice .cubes compar m n m y easily. n ed.

2 .orrblocks maybe easily released i therefrom, the ---It :should+be-particularly:noted that the-:fro'nt ice blocks as. they. float upwardly-frometheir com- :wall -I 5 iof-eachcompartment isnotpparallel' with -partments, Lturning..=.0n, their sides. Thus-carter .,the: portion -10 which :f0rms ithe vertical-aback '.-.being..released..from their lcompartmentswinsthe wall of the tray. Instead each. front=wa1l risrin- ..tray-the.ice cubesfitcannotreenter rtheiricomcl ned -at an angle :theretm fiaringou w d y partments. wherrgthe rwatererisr dumped.-.-.-as the efromabottom to top as clearly showm in EFigi 2. t u h i-,ilt It. is a, prin i 1 ,.ob3ect,..-ot.-the-in- :Moreover, the endwalls i-3fand iltare-nonmarallel vention to .provide-aniicestray;rthericeacompart- .to each-other fiaring-.-outwardly from the vertical ments of which are so formed. ifromsbottom-to top-as will be. manifeSt' frOmFigeS. These and other objects of the invention will The strips riorming the end-walls iI32--:and--1 4 become-.more-apparent from the following deiandhthe front-walls. of the compartments-ofrthe scription and. claims when read in conjunction trayere s cured oh rip mpr babk with the accompanying-drawings;in which: p nmamv-bottonrl :p t ny Fig. 1 is a perspective view of an ice tray.consuitable-means such as. by weldingrbrazing solderstructedinaccordancewiththe invention. king, 01 the iThes'manneri 0f seel n d Fig. 2 is a section through the tray taken on the pends toiacgreat extent.onethezilrindcofr material line 22"of=1i'ig. 3. bf whichthetray ismade.

Fig. 3 is a sectional viewv taken 011.1311611118 40 A cube of ice frozen in one of the-c mp 3 -3- Fig 2 ments ofthe tray will havetheishapeillustrated Fig; 4 is"a"perspective view-10f antice f cube "in Fi 4. e t r-b1cci B- wi11 -such'as formed inthetray. ""have a heightigreaterithan.any. width. Elie back Fig. -5""is a diagrammaticfviewshowing-time .1'Sufface' i! will beiatri'ght angles( withthe;h t- ="dispo'sition"of thetray'unthetrough, and "tom surface 'lilitheiroht surface 18 willbemon- ;-"'Figs. G'Jand 'Fare' "similar views showing 'crejparillel to" the rba'cki.surace".'l'1 .,and will berflared spectively" the position "of"an':.icelcubeitjlistibeoutwardlyifrom.lbottom i.to...top;. -the vlowers poring :yeleg edfrom thg'tray; nd th position '11; tion'oi? the front surface "I 9 terminates in a curved assumes upon reaching the surfacevof the water Surface 20 J'Oilling W the b om urface 18; in the trough. and the end surfaces 2| and 22 will be non- With reference now to Figs. 1, 2 and 3, an ice parallel, both flaring outwardly from the vertical cube tray in accordance with the invention from bottom to topmay be comprised of several pieces of sheet metal Figs. 5, 6 and 7 illustrate diagrammatically the or the like. One such piece may be in strip form advantages of an ice tray which will form an ice with one fiat portion l0 constituting the vertical block of the shape shown in Fig. 4. In these figures the ice tray is indicated by the reference numeral 23, just an end wall of the tray being shown. In practice the tray may be surrounded by a coil or tube 24 for the refrigerant. The tray 23 and its coil 24 are disposed for rigid nonmovement within a trough 25. The trough 25 is pivoted as at 26 and unless filled with water will remain in the position illustrated.

The operation of the device is as follows. Assuming the tray is filled with water, the refrigerant passing through coil 24 will freeze the water in the tray 23. When it is desired to release the ice, warm refrigerant gases are caused to pass through the coil 24 and simultaneously the trough 25 is filled with water. The combined action of the warm refrigerant gases and of the water loosens each ice block 16 within the tray and each ice block begins to float to the surface 21 of the water. illustrated in Fig. 6.

As each ice block l6 leaves its compartment it will, because of its shape, begin to turn so that its axis will be horizontal instead of vertical. This turning movement as the ice block leaves its compartment is facilitated by the curved surface 20 of the ice block as will be apparent. Finally, the ice block I6 floats to the surface 27 of the water in the trough and assumes substantially the position illustrated in Fig. 7. The water has now substantially filled the trough and its weight has changed the center of gravity of the trough causing the trough to tilt on its pivotal axis 26, thus dumping out water and the ice blocks i6. The water supply is out off and the trough rights itself taking again the position shown in Figs. 5,

6 and 7. Some water remains in the trough and fills the tray for the next freezing operation. Excess water is drained from the trough through the small drain hole 28 in the bottom thereof.

As hereinbefore indicated this general system of operation is described in my copending application, Serial No. 605,570. That application, however, does not disclose the particular shaped ice tray capable of making ice blocks such as I6, which upon loosening will rise and turn in the manner described herein.

Now that the invention has been disclosed, it will be apparent that changes in the form and construction of the parts may be made within the scope of the invention. For example, instead of constructing the tra of pieces of sheet metal brazed or otherwise secured together the tray could be comprised of a single molded or cast piece of metal or other material such as plastic.

The important consideration, however, is that the compartments in the tray have such shape and dimensions as will produce ice blocks which, like that shown in Fig. 4, will, when released, respond in the manner illustrated and described.

I claim:

1. An ice block tray comprising at least one compartment for freezing liquid therein into ice, said compartment being constructed of sheet material and having a bottom wall, front, back, and end walls, the back and bottom walls being disposed substantially at right angles to each other and being comprised of a single piece of the ma- This stage of the operation is trial, the front wall being disposed non-parallel to the back wall, the end walls and the front wall being comprised of another single piece of the material, the forward end of the bottom wall terminating in a curved upwardly turned flange secured to the lower portion of the front wall, the distance between opposed walls being progressively greater from the bottom to the top of the compartment, and the height of the compartment being greater than the distance between any two of the Walls.

2. An ice block tray comprising at least one compartment for freezing liquid therein into ice, said compartment being constructed of sheet material and having a bottom wall, front, back, and end Walls, the back and bottom walls being disposed substantially at right angles to each other and being comprised of a single piece of the material, the front wall being disposed non-parallel to the back wall, the end walls and the front wall being comprised of another single piece of the material, the forward end of the bottom wall terminating in a curved upwardly turned flange secured to the lower portion of the front wall, the end walls bein non-parallel with respect to each other and being inclined outwardly from the vertical from bottom to top, the distance between the front and back walls being progressively greater from bottom to top, and the height of the compartment being greater than the distance between any two of the walls.

3. An ice block tray comprising a plurality of compartments for freezing liquid therein into ice, said compartments being constructed of sheet metal and having a bottom wall, front, back, and end walls, the back and bottom walls being disposed substantially at right angles to each other and all of the back and bottom Walls being comprised of a single piece of sheet metal, the front wall of each compartment being disposed nonparallel to the back wall, the end walls and the front wall of each compartment being comprised of another single piece of sheet metal, the forward end of the bottom wall terminating in a curved upwardly turned flange which is secured to the lower portion of the front wall of each compartment, the distance between opposed walls of each compartment being progressively greater from the bottom to top thereof, and the height of each compartment being greater than the distance between any two of its walls.

LEWIS R. SMITH.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 

